Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-11-25

few months, only TO revive again and
again, till, at the close of the presidential
campaign of 1896, 3l3 600 copies had been
sold in the United States and, as was then
reported, much larger number in Great
Britain. The translators were soon busy,
and varying editions successfully appeared
in French three versons). German -four
teen versionsl, Dutch, Danish, swedish,
Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Welsh, Rus
sian, Polish, Hungarian, Wendish, Wal
lachian Romaic, Arabic and Armenian.
In recent years condensed editions of the
work have appeared in Chinese, japanese,
Turkish and other languages; while q
great many notifications have been
printed in several tongues, such MS the
story in words of two syllabcs for children
and sketches of the principal points in
simple sentences. At last the interest
the war came and slavery was
destroyed, and once more there
was a great popular demand for "Uncle
Toms Cabin" The original copyright
having long since EXPIRED it is impossible
to estimate with certainty the number of
copies in the English language; but it
was estimated to exceed II million some
years ago. Not only in Great Britain but
in all her colonies, ard since the war in
every state of the American Union, one
very rarely finds one adult who has not
read the work; it has become Il great
American classic. 1t has been dramatized
in so many forms that theatrical records
do not give the number.
A most amusing feature was the ere
plies" that were issued. They were many
and varied in form from the novel to the
polemical pamphlet. These were "Uncle
Toms Cabin as 1t Is" and "Aunt Phillis'
Cabin, "Uncle Tom in England, " Our
Uncle Tom, "Uncle Toms Cabin Dis
sected," "Mrs. Stowe Rcfutcd,n and
many others, including rhyming reply
from "Rosa,n of The Louisville journal.
Without one exception they have sunk
into oblivion. The reader of current liter
allure knows nothing of them, and the
professional writer of memoirs like this
has to hunt long in second hand book
stores or the garrets of old publishing
houses TO find even one. Some of them
had considerable literary merit, too and
as stories merely the first two before
mentioned will repay perusal at this day.
Even the '1<ey to Uncle Toms Cabin, y
issued by Mrs. Stowe herself in 1858,
was neglected and soon forgotten. The
| 'sequclS' and limitations were even less
regarded. The original work stood alone,
without . rival But now that slavery is
only n historic thing, while peace and
complete reunion assure the calmness
needed for true criticism, we read Uncle
Toms Cabin with clearer eyes and per-
ceive that with all its peculiar charms it
has many faults. AS novel merely it is
not a work of art; the plot is simply moth
ing, and the attempt in the closing chap
tiers to bring together the various charac-
tiers so as to make something like plot,
is such an obvious failure that it seriously
mars the symmetry of the work as a
whole. The English used in many places
is not above criticism; and while the local
descriptions of Ohio are fairly good and
those of Kentucky not very bad, those of
/ New Orleans are ludicrous, painfully at
fault, nay, almost disgusting. To this
! day residents of New Orleans who are in